Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, the most right-wing in Israel’s history, is methodically expanding the network of Israeli settlements in the West Bank at a blistering pace, deliberately foreclosing the increasingly remote possibility of a two-state solution with the Palestinians. This comes as no surprise. Netanyahu, a champion of settlements, has said that Jews have an […]
The United States has escalated its military campaign against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, but they remain defiant, prompting speculation whether they can be defeated any time soon. Last week, President Donald Trump ordered a massive wave of air strikes on their command centers, weapons depots and training sites. The bombings, the heaviest ever targeting […]
A few days ago, Israel’s incoming chief of staff, General Eyal Zamir, predicted that 2025 would be “a year of war.” His prediction has proven to be correct. On March 18, Israel’s tenuous two-month ceasefire with Hamas broke down as Israel ferociously resumed the war in the Gaza Strip. “Israel will, from now on, act […]
Israel’s “temporary” occupation of territory in southern Syria is turning into something more permanent. With the the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime last December, Israel went into high gear in an attempt to weaken Syria, one of its arch enemies. Israel bombed Syrian military assets, most of which are Russian in origin, and unilaterally […]
Seventeen months after the October 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu still stubbornly refuses to create an independent commission to review the events that culminated in the deadliest single day in Israel’s history. On that morning, some 3,000 Hamas terrorists attacked a string of kibbutzim, towns, army bases and a […]
The fate of the Gaza Strip hangs in the balance. Gaza, invaded by the Israeli army after Hamas’ massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, has descended into a twilight zone since January 19, the day the ceasefire negotiated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt kicked in. While the Israel-Hamas war has stopped, […]
Israel’s three-part ceasefire agreement with Hamas, brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt in January, is crumbling, raising the distinct possibility that Israel may well resume the war in the Gaza Strip. Negotiations on the second phase were supposed to begin a month ago, before the first phase ended on March 1. But the […]
Israeli troops remain on the ground in southern Lebanon, despite a ceasefire agreement that required Israel to withdraw from all Lebanese territory following its recent war with Hezbollah. Israel pulled out of Lebanese towns and villages on February 18, two weeks after it was supposed to do so under a two-month truce that began on […]
Is Israel ready and willing to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities? This is not an idle question. It goes to the heart of current tensions in the Middle East. Israel has been contemplating this potentially risky military option for more than a decade. But of late, Israel appears to have moved closer to implementing this objective, […]
The swift collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s secular regime, followed by the rapid emergence of an Islamist government in Damascus, are driving speculation that Israel and Turkey could be on the cusp of a collision course in Syria. Early last month, an Israeli government committee headed by Jacob Nagel, a former high-ranking Israeli army […]